file compression

djsilver666666

<<if you just want the question, then skip down to the next set of arrows>>
I am normally a soccer photographer, and I can shoot about 300 jpegs a game since I am covering about 16 players for 70 minutes.

This makes uploading the files at original quality kinda insane, so I have made a habit of batch processing the files to "High quality" using Adobe Photoshop Elements (which is about 8 I believe). The file size difference is about: orig=6.5MB vs High=1.7MB.

I never shoot in RAW on purpose, but I accidently left the camera set to RAW before a party. So when I came home, I had to use the RAW converter from CS3. After doing whatever cropping color correcting I wanted to do, I forgot to convert them down a quality step using Photoshop Elements. After coming back several hours later and finding that the upload had still not completed, I stopped it and then re uploaded the pictures after converting them down a step.

When I was deleting double copies of some pictures, I noticed a drastic difference in the color quality. I knew there was some loss but the difference still surprised me!

<<QUESTION>>
Is the color loss really going to be this drastic (see screenshots below) or can I upload them in some other format that has better compression/color loss than jpeg?


(I think it's easier to see the difference on the bricks and the jeans of the girl nearest to the camera)
Orig:

Small:

cmason

What is the difference in 'quality' of the jpgs? I routinely save mine at '9', and only notice a difference if I save below 8...meaning I don't really see a difference between 8 and 10, so I split the difference.

Read more here.

SloYerRoll

It looks to me like the pictures speak for themselves.

While the upload time is considerably slower. You do have more of a "digital archive" so if you ever get the perfect shot. You can blow it up considerably.

There are allot of user in here that have slower upload speeds. Most of them defeat t his by doing all their work then starting the upload right before they go to bed or work. This way it can churn away and you can have the best possible images on the web for friends and family to view.

cmason

SloYerRoll wrote:

. Most of them defeat t his by doing all their work then starting the upload right before they go to bed or work. This way it can churn away and you can have the best possible images on the web for friends and family to view.

Yes, this is indeed how I do it...and I will give a plug for Nik here, if you are windows based, you need to check out StarExplorer, an app with lets you upload to Smugmug. I bought it because I can start my upload, and when S*E is finished, it will shut my PC down. I just drop photos in S*E, turn off the monitor and go to bed, S*E stays up late for me...

djsilver666666

Thanks, I'll certainly check out StarExplorer!

Would some sort of Tiff compression be better?

cmason

djsilver666666 wrote:

Thanks, I'll certainly check out StarExplorer!

Would some sort of Tiff compression be better?

Smugmug only accepts jpg

jfriend

djsilver666666 wrote:

Thanks, I'll certainly check out StarExplorer!

Would some sort of Tiff compression be better?

Just go with JPEG quality level 10 and your images on Smugmug will be as good as they can be.

SloYerRoll

djsilver666666 wrote:

Thanks, I'll certainly check out StarExplorer!

You get a 30 day trial for S*E.
But it's worth every penny if you learn how to use it!

djsilver666666

Is there some way I can batch proccess the jpegs for quality 10 rather than worded standards like "High" or "Low"?

cmason

djsilver666666 wrote:

Is there some way I can batch proccess the jpegs for quality 10 rather than worded standards like "High" or "Low"?

Yep...use something other than Photoshop Elements

SloYerRoll

djsilver666666 wrote:

Is there some way I can batch proccess the jpegs for quality 10 rather than worded standards like "High" or "Low"?

Worded standards have numerical standards they are related to:

Low = 10
Med = 30
High = 60
Very high = 80
Maximum = 100

*Taken from Ps CS3 Save for Web dialog.

djsilver666666

cmason wrote:

Yep...use something other than Photoshop Elements

What would I use?

Surely somebody knows a way to do batches with numerical compression in photoshop...

cmason

djsilver666666 wrote:

What would I use?

Surely somebody knows a way to do batches with numerical compression in photoshop...

Sure:

In Photoshop CS2, simply select File>Scripts>Image Processor. Choose images, Process as JPG, select the compression number (higher=less compression)

In Photoshop Lightroom, simply select your photos, choose File>Export. Process as JPG, select the compression number (higher= less compression)

In Corel PaintShop Pro X, select File>Batch Process>Save Option JPEG, select the compression number (lower number is less compression)

Bibble Lite, and I think Breeze Browser Pro do this as well, but I do not have the trials installed any longer.

djsilver666666

cmason wrote:

Sure:
In Photoshop CS2, simply select File>Scripts>Image Processor. Choose images, Process as JPG, select the compression number (higher=less compression)

Thanks, got my workflow better now!

jwalkeroh

SloYerRoll wrote:

Worded standards have numerical standards they are related to:

Low = 10
Med = 30
High = 60
Very high = 80
Maximum = 100

*Taken from Ps CS3 Save for Web dialog.

These are the same words and numbers I see in PSE 6 Save for Web dialog. The range of values is 0-100.

1. Photoshop Save As... Good for saving files for print. Bad for saving for display. Scale: 1-12. In general, we recommend JPEG 10, which is lab quality.
2. Photoshop Save for Web... Good for saving for display. Bad for saving for print. Scale: 1-100.

PSE 6 does have quality options when using Save As..., but its kind of hidden -- you must hit Save in the Save As dialog box first, then the next dialog box allows you to specify a Quality from 0-12, and here are the named values:
Low = 3
Med = 5
High = 8
Maximum = 10

Seems that we PSE 6 users should use 8 9 or 10.

Thoughts?

jwalkeroh

djsilver666666 wrote:

What would I use?

Surely somebody knows a way to do batches with numerical compression in photoshop...

PSE 6 does have a Files -> Process Multiple Files option. Did you try it?